The present invention relates to a sandwich preparation apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sandwich preparation apparatus which incorporates a plurality of production lines for producing sandwiches such as, for example, hamburgers.
Conventional hamburgers include one or more meat patties in a bun along with various condiments and sauces. A variety of other types of hamburgers and sandwiches have recently become popular and are in high demand at food outlets. These include, for example, such items as teriyaki burgers (adding teriyaki sauce to a conventional hamburger), bacon and lettuce burgers, cheeseburgers, fish sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, and croquette sandwiches. New types and kinds of hamburgers and sandwiches are being introduced regularly. The words "hamburger" and "sandwich" are interchangeably used hereafter unless otherwise specified.
A demand for increased productivity has arisen as a result of an increase in the number of consumers and increasingly diversified tastes. However, preparation of hamburgers has been primarily manually performed in conventional kitchen facilities which consist of a freezer for meat patties, a refrigerator for condiments and sauces, a broiler or grill for cooking, a toaster for buns, a deep fat fryer, and a work table for manually assembling food materials onto a bun to complete the ordered sandwich. Each of these areas is independent of the others. Productivity of kitchen facilities has steadily improved, and now has reached a limit.
In order to solve the problems mentioned above, an automatic hamburger fixing apparatus has been developed. For example, the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-91739 attempts to overcome the productivity problems inherent in conventional manual systems. However, this apparatus is designed to prepare only limited kinds of sandwiches.
In order to prepare all of the kinds of sandwiches listed above, an apparatus must have feeding and adding mechanisms for each and every type of food materials necessary for producing sandwiches. This requirement makes the apparatus bigger and requires a large space for installation. In addition, every time a new type of hamburger or sandwich is introduced, another mechanism for feeding the new food material must be incorporated into the existing apparatus. The control system also must be modified accordingly. It is impossible to install such an apparatus in a relatively small conventional kitchen, and it is difficult to install additional mechanisms and modifications to the control system when introducing new items to the menu.